


hook, line, and sinker

by fletcherstringham



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Big Brother William AU, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-13
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-03-04 11:32:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13363860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fletcherstringham/pseuds/fletcherstringham
Summary: In an AU where Hohenheim never abandoned him, Envy—or William—wants nothing more to protect his younger brothers.  Unfortunately, good intentions aren't always everything.





	hook, line, and sinker

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Artdirector123](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artdirector123/gifts).



> commission for [Amanda](https://strawbebehmod.tumblr.com)!! she asked for some of her 'big brother william' au, which is an au where hohenheim took envy with him when he left dante and he became a brother figure for the elric boys; you can see more [here!!](https://strawbebehmod.tumblr.com/tagged/big%20brother%20william%20au) i hope you enjoy it!! <3

William Hohenheim does  _ not  _ make a habit of eavesdropping, thanks very much—but, by sheer happenstance, he  _ has  _ decided which is the best form to do it in when it’s necessary.  He’s taken this form now, his large, fibrous wings tucked tight against his body, his ears perked and alert, his tiny nose twitching as he’s occasionally distracted by the smell of fruit or popcorn as food vendors roll their carts past his tree to make their sales.  Every so often, the sweet, fresh scent of peaches or bananas will completely divert his attention from his task, and he’ll be about to fly off in that direction before he remembers himself.  The occupational hazard of shapeshifting into animals: being overtaken by their instincts.

Fortunately, a brother’s instincts are stronger.

Gripping the branch hanging above him for better purchase, William returns his beady, black-eyed gaze to the scene across the street, where two boys sit opposite each other at an outdoor café.  On the left, his bright red coat thrown over the back of his chair, his long, blond hair in a braid hanging between his shoulders, is Edward Elric; across from him is the reason William has chosen to keep a sharper eye than usual on his younger brother.  Tall for fourteen, with pale blond hair falling over his face, a shade too thin but holding himself in such a way William can tell he knows his way around a fight—William’s shoulders stiffen reflexively just to watch him.  This is Russell Tringham, once identity theft and adversary of Edward’s, now acquaintance and even ally to them all; that much, William can stomach.

But to have come all the way to Central City from  _ Xenotime _ , the heart of the East’s badlands, just for a visit?  No.  William is impossibility made flesh, a walking miracle—though few know it, of course—but even  _ his _ powers of belief don’t extend that far.  The kid is up to something,  _ again _ , and William fully intends to find out what.

And if he thinks he’ll be able to lay a hand on Edward a second time—William’s lips part, baring white, needlelike teeth that gleam under the afternoon sun.

Of course, as is the norm, William’s quest is nobler on paper than in practice.  For the past hour and a half, he’s done nothing but hang upside down from his tree limb as Ed and Russell eat their lunch, though the boys do more picking than eating as they’re distracted from their food by their conversation.  Edward, as is typical, seems to be carrying it.  What’s unusual is that Russell is  _ allowing  _ this; he’s as volatile as Edward from what William remembers, and yet he seems perfectly content to merely nod his head along with Edward’s enthusiastic speech, his attention rapt.  Once so choleric, so controlling, now an eager listener.  Why?  William squints hard as Edward makes a bad joke—the grin on his face tells him as much—and Russell, far from complaining, actually  _ laughs _ , a long-fingered hand reaching up to brush his obscuring bangs out of his face as his eyes stay locked on Edward’s face.

With his eyes not leaving the scene and his mind flitting off in a thousand directions, wondering just  _ what  _ this boy wants with Edward, William notices the shadow covering him a second too late.  A pair of large, leather-gloved hands close around his small body before he can spread his wings and fly off, and William shrieks—entirely instinctual; human William does not  _ shriek _ —as Alphonse removes him from his branch and sets him gently on the ground.

In a flash of white, he returns to human form, blond hair falling messily over his face and pale cheeks flushed with indignation.  Still, he tries his hardest to appear nonchalant as he gets to his feet, straightening his clothes and brushing away dirt as he does.

“You could warn someone, you know,” he grumbles, his eyes flitting up to Alphonse’s.  “Really, Al, I had half a mind to bite you.  How did you even know it was me?”

“Besides a bat hanging from a tree in the middle of the day?”  Alphonse gives a one-shouldered shrug.  “Just a hunch.  But  _ I’m  _ the one who should be asking the questions here, Brother—why are you spying on Ed?”

The color in William’s face darkens.  “I was not  _ spying _ ,” he sniffs.  “I’m—looking after him.   _ That’s  _ all.”

Al cocks his head.  “Why?  What’s he doing?”  Hidden clumsily behind William’s tree—luckily, Edward seems beyond noticing at the moment—he peeks out at where Ed and Russell continue to chat over empty plates.  “He’s just hanging out with Russell,” Alphonse says, giving William a look of confusion.  Always the trusting one.  William glowers, his lips pursed.

“Russell came all the way here from Xenotime; that’s a bit much for just a daytrip,” he says.  When Alphonse doesn’t react, William blows out a breath.  “He’s clearly  _ up to something _ .  He wants something from Ed, and while I’d love to give him the benefit of the doubt, last time he wanted something from Ed resulted in a lot of people getting hurt.  It’s worth keeping an eye on him at the very least.”

“You sure about that?” Alphonse asks.  William doesn’t miss the tender sarcasm in his tone; he glances back up at him, aghast, and Alphonse makes a noise that, though hard to tell with the armor, sounds like a sigh.  “You and Ed, I swear, Will.”

“What is  _ that  _ supposed to mean?”

He doesn’t wait for an answer, however.  In his periphery, he sees Russell stand; Edward joins him a mere moment later and, shoulder-to-shoulder, the two take off down the street.

“I’ll see you later, Al,” William murmurs.  In another flash of light, he transforms.  

“No, Will,  _ don’t _ —!   _ Will! _ ” Alphonse groans, his high, soft voice booming through the ears of a chipmunk as William scurries away.

With their leisurely pace, it’s more than easy enough to catch up to Edward and Russell, and soon William is perched in the gutter of a flower shop as they sit down together at the edge of a decorative fountain.  They’re quieter now, less talkative; Edward’s eyes wander and Russell’s hands fidget in his lap.  William leaps lightly from the shop’s roof and skitters to a newsstand under the guise of investigating some nearby food wrappings to try and catch their words.

“—wish I could stay longer, really,” Russell is saying.  “It feels like I just got here and already my train home leaves in about two hours.  There’s so much we won’t get to do today.”

“I’m all booked after today, anyway,” Edward answers.  Surely it’s William’s inhuman ears not processing speech well—he can’t possibly sound  _ apologetic?  _  “Got that journal to decode, and I’ll have guard dogs breathing down my neck the whole time; we wouldn’t get to do anything fun.”

“Where  _ are  _ your guards, anyhow?  On the phone, you made it sound as if they wouldn’t leave you be, but I haven’t caught a whiff of them all afternoon.”

Edward smirks.  “Told ‘em I wanted to rest up a bit before Al and I got cracking on those notes.  They were all for it.  They’re guarding an empty hotel room now; I’ll sneak back in after I see you off and they’ll never be any the wiser.”

“Oh, Ed.”  Again, the tone is strange.  It’s some blend between exasperated, amused, and—if William had to pin it down— _ affectionate _ , which can’t be right at all.  “Tell me, when someone’s court-martialed, is there, like, a ceremony?  Can I come to yours?”

“Absolutely fucking  _ not _ .”  Edward punctuates this with an elbow to Russell’s ribs, but then he laughs, ruining the effect.  Russell’s grin doesn’t match someone who’s just been elbowed one bit; he even joins in Ed’s laughter.  What is going  _ on  _ here?  What exactly is he playing at?

Silence settles over them for a few moments, and then Russell speaks, more tentatively than before.  “You’ll call me, though, won’t you?” 

“’Course I will, stupid,” Edward says.  “Write, too.  I’ll get one of the guards to transcribe my letters for me; give ‘em something useful to do.”

Edward is still in touch with Russell?

“Your own personal scribes.  I knew being a dog of the military had its perks,” Russell quips.

“Hey, you were pretty keen to cash in on those perks not too long ago, remember?”  Ed couples this with another nudge, his eyes half-lidded and his smirk suggestive; Russell colors, but his smile vanishes just a second after William notices it.

“Not anymore, Edward.  You know how I feel about the military—I won’t sell my soul to them after what they put my family through.  They won’t have that much power over me again.”

It’s Edward’s turn to frown, his eyes glinting seriously.  “They don’t own me either, Russell,” he tells him.  “I don’t belong to them anymore than you do.  I belong to the people I care about.”

“Is that so,” Russell murmurs, so quietly that William barely catches it.

Edward turns to look him full in the face, Russell leans his weight on the arm resting between them, and they get no closer than that before William springs into action.

He leaps onto the newsstand and launches himself toward the pair, transforming mid-pounce into human form again; his foot connects with Russell’s chest, and he flies backward into the water with a very loud, very satisfying  _ splash _ .  William straightens and sweeps his hair out of his face as Edward gapes up at him, his eyes round as cenz in his face.

“W—Will?” he gasps.  He flushes red as his coat.  “What—what the  _ hell _ , Will?!  What are you  _ doing  _ here?!”

“What am I—I’m protecting you!” William responds.  Shock makes sense, but he can’t place Edward’s sudden anger even as it propels him toward irritation of his own.  “What are  _ you  _ doing, Ed?  Wandering around the city with a known criminal, tricking your guards—?”

_ “Have you been spying on us?!”  _ Edward shouts, jumping furiously to his feet.

Russell pulls himself out of the fountain, shivering and coughing up water.  Edward twists back around and, inexplicably, yanks his coat from his shoulders and offers it to Russell.

William folds his arms at his accusation, chewing on his lip and fighting a flush of his own.  “It was for your own good, Edward.  I was just keeping an eye on you.  And it’s a good thing I was!  You let him get you alone, he could have attacked you—he was  _ about  _ to attack you before I stepped in!”

“Get me—attack—”  Edward sputters, his cheeks darkening as his eyes dart from Russell to William and back again.  Then, his chest heaving, he fixes his glare on William and bursts out, “It’s a  _ date _ , you dumb shit!”

William stops cold.

“Come again?” he says.

“It’s—a— _ date. _ ”  Edward lays stress on each of the words; his gold eyes burn as they lock with William’s.  “We’re on a  _ date _ .  We’re spending the day together as a  _ date _ .  We are  _ dating. _  This ‘known criminal’ is my  _ boyfriend _ .”

“He is?” William repeats, blinking.

“I am?” Russell says blankly, pushing his sopping hair out of his eyes.

“I-I mean, if you wanna be,” Edward adds.  In an instant, the fury becomes sheepishness.  “I kinda figured—I mean, the phone calls, the letters, the whole ‘feelings’ thing—I mean, that’s kinda—but, whatever!” he snaps, whirling back on William.  “It’s none of your business is the point!  You really followed us all afternoon thinking this was some grand scheme of Russell’s to steal my identity again or something?!”

Worded like that, it  _ does  _ sound kind of silly.

“I was trying to protect you,” William tells him, a little meekly.

“Well, I didn’t need it.  And I’d appreciate a little more respect for my  _ privacy _ in the future,” Ed grits out, still flushed and angry-looking.  Then, as Russell blinks, nonplussed, Edward takes his hand and hauls him to his feet.  “C’mon.  Let’s get you somewhere you can dry off.”

“O-okay,” Russell says.  With one last scowl, Edward leads him away.

William stares after them for several seconds, wearing an expression of blank surprise similar to Russell’s.  It takes several minutes for it to sink in; when it finally does, settling over him like softly falling snow, he’s surprised by the sudden warmth that fills his chest.  A boyfriend.  His baby brother has a  _ boyfriend _ .

Maybe it’s the sheer normalcy of it, or perhaps satisfaction of the thought of someone giving his brother the affection he deserves, or even simple relief that his suspicions were unfounded after all—it doesn’t matter.  William finds himself suddenly giddy with glee.  A  _ boyfriend! _  Edward has a  _ boyfriend! _

Later he’ll bother him for all the details, pester him until he’s bright red and sniping, sing and dance about it while Edward wails and tries to disappear.  For now, William only hurries to catch up with them, stops some couple of yards behind them on the sidewalk, and cups his hands around his mouth to shout, “You two are cute together!”, relishing at the way Edward yelps.  So simple, so ordinary—it’s exactly what they deserve.


End file.
